US20090024956A1 - Information processing apparatus and control method thereof, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

An information processing apparatus comprising display unit configured to display a window, accepting unit configured to accept a resize instruction of the displayed window together with a scroll instruction indicating whether or not to scroll display contents within the window, and control unit configured to control a size of the window and a scrolling of the display contents within the window based on contents of the resize instruction and the scroll instruction, wherein when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are to be scrolled, the control unit changes the window to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and scrolls the display contents according to a change amount of the window, and when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are not to be scrolled, the control unit changes the window to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and suppresses a scrolling of the display contents.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• 1. Field of the Invention
• The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and control method thereof, and a computer program.
• 2. Description of the Related Art
• Conventionally, an information processing system, which can simultaneously execute a plurality of applications with user interfaces, can display a plurality of windows corresponding to the applications at the same time, and can control the respective windows to serve as independent user interfaces.
• In such a case, the information processing system can display the plurality of windows by one of the following methods. A method of overlapping the windows at arbitrary locations according to the rule of a predetermined priority order upon displaying the respective windows is available (overlap method). Also, a method of tiling the windows without overlapping each other upon displaying the respective windows is available (tiling window method). In general, when many windows need to be displayed within a limited display screen, the overlap method is more effective.
• Most of windows allow modification of their sizes and locations in the X and Y directions independently or simultaneously. When the overlap method is used, the windows need to be moved or resized to avoid completely covered windows as a result of window overlap.
• When a plurality of applications run in parallel, and corresponding windows are displayed at the same time, a display controller of an information processing apparatus displays a window to be prioritized or a window selected by the user for access in front of all other windows in each case. The whole area of the window displayed in front of all other windows is displayed, and partial areas of other windows are displayed based on their overlapping states.
• However, in this situation, when the user wants to frequently access a window hidden by other windows or to refer to its contents, the user needs to make a predetermined operation for windows. This operation includes that of switching display to locate a desired window in front of all other windows and that of downsizing or moving the windows located in front of the target window.
• In general, upon resizing a window (e.g., to reduce its size), it becomes difficult to display all the contents displayed before resizing within the resized window. For this reason, only partial contents to be prioritized are displayed. The sequence for determining such part to be prioritized is executed either automatically or manually.
• A window is resized by dragging one border or corner of the window. The window is moved by dragging a specific region which is not used for resizing.
• Upon resizing a window, there is a specification prepared in advance for each window type, and display control upon resizing is performed based on the specification. More specifically, a specification that moves the display contents upon dragging when a window is resized by dragging one border or corner is available. Also, a specification that does not move the display contents irrespective of dragging is available. Furthermore, a specification that moves the display contents to have a predetermined ratio with respect to dragging or reduces or modifies them is available.
• These specifications are determined in advance for respective window types or for respective places to be dragged even on one window. Note that in the present specification, moving the display contents of a window upon resizing the window will be referred to as “scrolling”.
• A general display control method upon resizing a window will be described below.
• FIG. 21 shows the configuration of a window to be displayed on a display device.FIG. 21 shows a window that displays a document.FIGS. 22A to 22D andFIGS. 23A to 23D are explanatory views of popular display control methods upon resizing a window.
• FIGS. 22A to 22D are views showing cases in which the window shown inFIG. 21 is resized by dragging one of the four borders.
• In general, upon resizing the window by moving the right or bottom border of the four borders, the display contents near the border opposite to the border to be moved remain unchanged, and those near the border to be moved are changed.FIGS. 22A and 22C show the cases in which the window size is reduced by moving the right or bottom border. In these cases, the display contents near the border to be moved are gradually hidden.
• Upon resizing the window by moving the left or top border of the four borders, the display contents near the border to be moved remain unchanged, and those near the border opposite to the border to be moved are changed.FIGS. 22B and 22D show the cases in which the window size is reduced by moving the left or top border. In these cases, the display contents near the right or bottom border opposite to the border to be moved are gradually hidden.
• FIGS. 23A to 23D show cases in which the window shown inFIG. 21 is resized by dragging the corners of the window. Note that the corners of the window mean the intersections of the respective borders that define the window.
• As shown inFIGS. 23A to 23D, when the window is resized by dragging the upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right corners of the window, the display contents near the upper left corner remain unchanged, and those near other corners are gradually hidden.
• The concept of the display control shown inFIGS. 22A to 22D andFIGS. 23A to 23D is to basically preferentially display the left and up directions of the display contents of a window. On the other hand, many windows which aim at the drawing function and display of general figures do not always preferentially display the left and up directions, and different specifications are determined in advance for respective window types.
• Many specifications associated with resizing of a window are designed to naturally locate the contents to be prioritized at a display position if the user normally makes a resizing operation. However, a part that the user wants to display does not always move to the display position, and an operation for individually shifting the position of the display contents after resizing is often required.
• Most windows have scroll bars to shift the position of the display contents. In general, the user can move the contents that the user wants to display or access to the position within the window by operating the scroll bar.
• The inventions that improve the operations for resizing a window by dragging, for example, a predetermined part of the window are disclosed in Japanese Patent Nos. 2765615 and 3431795.
• On the other hand, a certain window often configures parent and child windows defined by predetermined specifications so as to prevent related windows from being uneasy to see due to overlap display or to prevent correspondence between the related windows from confusing.
• The inventions that relate to a method of controlling the relationship between the parent and child windows upon resizing a window are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-185480 and Japanese Patent No. 3586351.
• In order to resize (especially, reduce) a window and to preferentially display a desired part, use of the display control specification determined in advance for each window type does not suffice. In many cases, the user needs to perform two operations step by step in such a manner that the user is required to scroll the display contents by a predetermined amount in a predetermined direction after resizing. Such requirement results in inefficiency upon making various operations on a computer, thus decreasing productivity accordingly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• Embodiments of the present invention provides a technique that allows the user to arbitrarily and intuitively perform an operation for moving a desired part to be prioritized to a predetermined location concurrently with resizing during resizing a window.
• According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus comprising, display unit configured to display a window, accepting unit configured to accept a resize instruction of the displayed window together with a scroll instruction indicating whether or not to scroll display contents within the window, and control unit configured to control a size of the window and a scrolling of the display contents within the window based on contents of the resize instruction and the scroll instruction, wherein when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are to be scrolled, the control unit changes the window to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and scrolls the display contents according to a change amount of the window, and when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are not to be scrolled, the control unit changes the window to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and suppresses a scrolling of the display contents.
• According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling an information processing apparatus comprising, displaying a window on a display unit, accepting a resize instruction of the displayed window together with a scroll instruction indicating whether or not to scroll display contents within the window, and controlling a size of the window and a scrolling of the display contents within the window based on contents of the resize instruction and the scroll instruction, wherein when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are to be scrolled, the window is changed to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and the display contents are scrolled according to a change amount of the window, and when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are not to be scrolled, the window is changed to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and scrolling of the display contents is suppressed.
• Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware arrangement of an information processing apparatus according an embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 1B shows an example of the arrangement of a mouse as an example of anoperation unit109 according the embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 1C shows an example of the arrangement of a digital pen and tablet as an example of theoperation unit109 according the embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of a window according the embodiment of the invention;
• FIGS. 3A to 3D show display examples when the user locates a cursor on a first or second region of atop border201 orbottom border202 of a window and drags it according to the first embodiment of the invention;
• FIGS. 4A to 4D show display examples when the user locates the cursor on a first or second region of aleft border203 orright border204 of a window and drags it according to the first embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 5A is a view for explaining ON/OFF switching of scrolling upon resizing according to the first embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 5B is a view for explaining ON/OFF switching of scrolling upon resizing when the cursor position is changed from the display state ofFIG. 5A;
• FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of window resizing processing according to the first embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 7A shows an example of a state in which the size of awindow200 matches that of awhole display screen700 according to the second embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 7B shows an example of a state in which the size of thewindow200 changes when the user locates acursor701 on asecond region203band drags it in the X direction according to the second embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 7C shows an example of a state in which the size of thewindow200 changes when the user locates thecursor701 on afirst region203aand drags it in the X direction according to the second embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 8A shows an example of a state in which the size of thewindow200 matches that of thewhole display screen700 according to the second embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 8B shows an example of a state in which the size of thewindow200 changes when the user locates thecursor701 on asecond region202band drags it in the Y direction according to the second embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 8C shows an example of a state in which the size of thewindow200 changes when the user locates thecursor701 on afirst region202aand drags it in the Y direction according to the second embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 9A shows an example of a state before the beginning of dragging when the user locates a cursor P on a corner209 (P0) in a display control method according to the third embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 9B shows an example of a state in which the user moves the cursor P from the position P0 on thecorner209 to a position P1 in the display control method according to the third embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 9C shows an example of a state in which the user moves the cursor P from P1 to P2 in the display control method according to the third embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of window resizing processing according to the third embodiment of the present invention;
• FIG. 11 shows an example of a window including a plurality of sub-windows;
• FIG. 12 is a view for explaining the fourth embodiment of the invention taking as an example a window which is divided into left and right sub-windows as first and second sub-windows;
• FIG. 13 shows an example of a change in display contents when the user moves a boundary in a window divided by one boundary according to the fourth embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of window resizing processing according to the fourth embodiment of the invention;
• FIGS. 15A and 15B show division examples of boundaries;
• FIG. 16 shows an example of display contents of a window according to the fifth embodiment of the invention;
• FIGS. 17A and 17B show display examples when the user resizes (reduces) the window by dragging one border of the window according to the fifth embodiment of the invention;
• FIGS. 18A and 18B show display examples when the user resizes the window by dragging one corner of the window according to the fifth embodiment of the invention;
• FIGS. 19A and 19B show display examples that allow a normally hidden part to be easier to see according to the fifth embodiment of the invention;
• FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of window resizing processing corresponding to the display examples shown inFIGS. 17A and 17B;
• FIG. 21 shows the configuration of a window displayed on a display device;
• FIGS. 22A to 22D show cases in which the user resizes the window shown inFIG. 21 by dragging one of four borders; and
• FIGS. 23A to 23D show cases in which the user resizes the window shown inFIG. 21 by dragging one of four corners of the window.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
• Embodiments of the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.
• The present invention provides a technique which arbitrarily controls, concurrently with dragging, whether or not to scroll the display contents of a window in response to dragging upon resizing the window by dragging an element (border, corner, boundary, etc.) which configures the window. In particular, the present invention proposes the following three control techniques.
• The first control technique covers a case in which the user resizes a window by mainly dragging one border of the window. This technique is characterized in that a direction component, which is not directly related to resizing, of those of the cursor motion upon movement is used in control. In corresponding embodiments, two different regions are formed on each border of a window, and ON/OFF of scrolling can be controlled concurrently with dragging by selecting that region while dragging.
• The second control technique is characterized in that ON/OFF of scrolling is controlled by operating a button other than that for dragging of an operation unit upon making a drag movement. This technique can be applied to both a case of dragging a corner and that of dragging a border.
• The third control technique executes control by cooperating the first and second control techniques. With this technique, on a window including a plurality of sub-windows, each sub-window is resized by dragging a boundary of the sub-window. In case of the window including the plurality of sub-windows, since each boundary is independently controlled, this technique can also be applied to a window including many sub-windows.
First Embodiment
• The first embodiment of the invention will be described hereinafter. This embodiment will explain an embodiment that relates to the first control technique.
• FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware arrangement of an information processing apparatus used to implement the present invention. Referring toFIG. 1A, aCPU101 executes an OS, application programs, and the like stored in an HD (hard disk)103, and controls to temporarily store information, files, and the like required for execution of the programs in aRAM102. TheRAM102 serves as a main memory, work area, and the like of theCPU101. TheHD103 stores the application programs, driver programs, the OS, control programs, a processing program required to execute processing according to this embodiment, and the like.
• Adisplay unit104 displays information according to commands input from anoperation unit109, externally acquired information, and the like. Thedisplay unit104 may adopt any display method of CRT type, liquid crystal type, PDP type, SED type, and organic EL type. Thedisplay unit104 displays a window according to this embodiment. A network interface (to be referred to as “I/F” hereinafter)105 is a communication interface used to connect a network. AROM106 stores programs such as a basic I/O program and the like.
• Anexternal storage drive107 can load programs and the like stored in a medium108 to this computer system. The medium108 as a storage medium stores predetermined programs and related data. Theoperation unit109 is a user interface used to accept operations and instructions from an operator of this apparatus, and comprises a keyboard, mouse, digital pen, and the like. Asystem bus110 controls the flow of data in the apparatus.
• Note that a mouse, digital pen, and tablet as examples of theoperation unit109 can have the arrangements shown in, for example,FIGS. 1B and 1C. In this case, the mouse and tablet are connected to aninformation processing apparatus100 using USB connections, and can serve as theoperation unit109.
• Amouse120 shown inFIG. 1B can constitute a part of theoperation unit109. Themouse120 has theleft button121 and theright button122. Although not shown, the bottom surface of themouse120 comprises a structure for detecting a moving amount and direction of themouse120 using a mechanical mechanism using a ball or an optical mechanism using an optical sensor.
• Adigital pen130 andtablet140 shown inFIG. 1C can constitute a part of theoperation unit109. Thedigital pen130 can comprise atip switch131 at the pen tip, and aside switch132 on the side surface. Thetip switch131 corresponds to theleft button121 of themouse120, and theside switch132 corresponds to theright button122 of themouse120. Thetip switch131 can be turned on by pressing it against thetablet140. Theside switch132 can be turned on when the operator holds it down with the finger.
• Thetablet140 comprises a pressure-sensitive or electrostatic contact sensor, and can detect the position of thedigital pen130 when the tip of thedigital pen130 is pressed against thetablet140. When the operator moves thedigital pen130 while pressing the tip against thetablet140, thetablet140 can detect the moving direction and amount of thedigital pen130. Note that thetablet140 may be integrated with thedisplay unit104.
• An example of the configuration of a window according to the embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference toFIG. 2.FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of a window according to the embodiment of the invention.
• Referring toFIG. 2, awindow200 has a rectangular shape, and is defined by four borders, that is, atop border201,bottom border202, leftborder203, andright border204. Thewindow200 has fourcorners207,208,209, and210. Thecorner207 is defined as an intersection between thetop border201 and leftborder203, thecorner208 is defined as an intersection between theleft border203 andbottom border202, thecorner209 is defined as an intersection between thebottom border202 andright border204, and thecorner210 is defined as an intersection between theright border204 andtop border201.
• In this embodiment, each border is divided into two different regions, that is, first and second region. More specifically, the first region is located to include the center of the border, and the second region is located to include the end portions of the border, and to sandwich the first region. For example, on thetop border201, a first region201aincluding the center of the border is located to be sandwiched betweensecond regions201bincluding the end portions of the border.
• As the division method of the first and second region, each border may be equally divided into three or the first region may be slightly longer or shorter than the length obtained when the border is equally divided into three regions. This embodiment will exemplify a case in which one border is equally divided into three regions.
• Thewindow200 includes a title bar205 anddisplay area206. The title bar205 displays information corresponding to the content displayed in thedisplay area206. For example, when thedisplay area206 displays document data, the title bar205 displays a document name. Thedisplay area206 displays the contents of data to be displayed. Thedisplay area206 displays the contents of a document for a document file, or displays a corresponding image or graphic information for an image or graphic file.
• In this embodiment, the window can be resized by dragging one of the four borders of the window based on the operation of theoperation unit109, and moving the selected border in a direction perpendicular to that border. That is, in this embodiment, the drag operation corresponds to a window resize instruction operation. As will be described in detail below, the present invention is characterized in that the window resize instruction, including a scroll instruction indicating whether or not to scroll the display contents within the window, is accepted.
• Note that this embodiment uses “drag” as a term that represents the concept to be described below. A case will be examined first wherein the mouse shown inFIG. 1B is used as theoperation unit109 to have default settings of Microsoft Windows®. In this case, the display position of a cursor displayed on the screen of thedisplay unit104 is controlled in response to the movement of themouse120. When the user presses theleft button121 while the cursor is located on a target to be selected, that target to be selected is highlighted. In this embodiment, moving the cursor by moving themouse120 in this state will be referred to as “dragging”.
• A case will be examined below wherein thedigital pen130 andtablet140 shown inFIG. 1C are used as theoperation unit109. In this case, the display position of the cursor displayed on the screen of thedisplay unit104 is controlled in response to the position of thedigital pen130 pressed against thetablet140. When the user presses thedigital pen130 against thetablet140 at a position corresponding to the display position of a target to be selected, the target to be selected is highlighted. In this embodiment, moving the cursor by moving thedigital pen130 on thetablet140 in this state will be referred to as “dragging”.
• FIGS. 3A to 3D show display examples according to this embodiment when the user drags the cursor while locating it on the first or second region of thetop border201 orbottom border202 of the window in the display state ofFIG. 2.FIGS. 4A to 4D show display examples according to this embodiment when the user drags the cursor while locating it on the first or second region of theleft border203 orright border204 of the window in the display state ofFIG. 2. Note that a frame indicated by the dotted line in each figure represents a frame corresponding to thewindow200 inFIG. 2 before resizing.
• As shown inFIGS. 3A and 3C andFIGS. 4A and 4C, when the user drags the cursor while the user locates it on the first region (region201a,202a,203a, or204a), the display contents near a border (first border) where the cursor is located remain unchanged. On the other hand, the display contents near a border (second border) opposite to the border (first border) where the cursor is located are changed so as to be hidden in turn by the second border.
• InFIGS. 3A and 3C andFIGS. 4A and 4C, it can also be considered as if the display contents were moving in correspondence with the movement of the border. In this embodiment, such change in display contents will be referred to as “resizing with scrolling”. Also, a state in which the display contents of thedisplay area206 are moved and displayed in correspondence with the movement of the border will be referred to as “with scrolling”, “the display contents are scrolled”, or “scrolling the display contents”.
• As shown inFIGS. 3B and 3D andFIGS. 4B and 4D, when the user drags the cursor while the user locates it on the second region (201b,202b,203b, or204b), the display contents near a border (first border) where the cursor is located are changed. More specifically, the display contents are changed so as to be hidden in turn by the first border. On the other hand, the display contents near a border (second border) opposite to the border (first border) where the cursor is located remain unchanged.
• InFIGS. 3B and 3D andFIGS. 4B and 4D, it can also be considered as if the display contents are fixed with respect to the movement of the border. In this embodiment, such change in display contents will be referred to as “resizing without scrolling”. A state in which the display contents on thedisplay area206 are fixedly displayed with respect to the whole display screen will be referred to as “without scrolling”, “the display contents are not scrolled”, or “not scrolling the display contents”.
• In this embodiment, “resizing with scrolling” and “resizing without scrolling” can be executed during resizing in a continuous drag operation. That is, the resizing with scrolling and that without scrolling can be switched in real time during a continuous, single drag operation. Hence, the user can resize the window while adjusting the display position.
• Switching between the resizing with scrolling and that without scrolling will be described below with reference toFIGS. 5A and 5B.FIGS. 5A and 5B are views for explaining that switching according to this embodiment.
• A case will be examined below wherein the user reduces thewindow200 by dragging theleft border203 of the window and moving it in a direction of an arrow501 (right direction), as shown inFIG. 5A. Note that the width and height directions of thewindow200 respectively match the X and Y directions of an X-Y coordinatesystem502 set on the display screen where thewindow200 is displayed. P0 represents an initial position of the cursor.
• FIG. 5B expresses a state in which a position P(Px, Py) of the cursor is continuously changed like P0→P1→P2→P3 or P5→P6→P7→P8 during a single drag operation. Note that P(Px, Py) is a coordinate value based on the X-Y coordinatesystem502 set on the display screen.
• InFIG. 5B, let Ly be the length of theleft border203, and C(Cx, Cy) be the position of thecorner208 corresponding to the lower end of theleft border203 to be dragged. Note that Cx corresponds to the position of theleft border203 in the X direction. Also, let Q(Qx, Qy) be the position of arbitrary display contents on thedisplay area206 of thewindow200. Note that the respective coordinates are based on the aforementioned X-Y coordinatesystem502.
• While dragging theleft border203, since the position Cx of theleft border203 in the X direction follows an X component of the cursor position (it is not related to a Y component), it can be expressed by:
• 
  Cx=Px   (1)
• From equation (1), since the cursor is kept located on the left border during dragging, a condition required to locate the cursor on the first region is described by:
• 
  Ly/3≦Py−Cy<2Ly/3
• Likewise, a condition required to locate the cursor on one of thesecond regions203bof theleft border203 is described by:
• 
  0<Py−Cy<Ly/3 or 2Ly/3<Py−Cy<Ly
• Therefore, upon making a drag operation while the cursor is located on the second region to attain the resizing without scrolling, this process can be expressed in association with the point Q by:
• 
  ΔQx =0   (2)
• where ΔQx is a difference between Qx at the beginning of the resizing without scrolling, and Qx after the window is resized.
• Likewise, upon making a drag operation while the cursor is located on the first region to attain the resizing with scrolling, this process can be expressed in association with the position Q by:
• 
  ΔQx=ΔCx=ΔPx   (3)
• where ΔQx is a difference between Qx at the beginning of the resizing with scrolling, and Qx after the window size is resized. Likewise, ΔCx and ΔPx are differences between Cx and Px at the beginning of the resizing with scrolling, and Cx and Px after the window is resized. Note that these differences correspond to change amounts of thewindow200 in the X direction.
• Upon application of the above concept toFIG. 5B, when the cursor position falls within a range from P0 to P1, and from P2 to P3, since the cursor belongs to thesecond region203b, ΔQx=0, and the resizing without scrolling is executed. When the cursor position falls within a range from P1 to P2, since the cursor belongs to thefirst region203a, ΔQx=ΔPx, and the resizing with scrolling is executed.
• That is, while the cursor begins to be dragged from P0 and is continuously dragged to be moved to P3, the position of theleft border203 of thewindow200 moves from C0 to C3 according to the X component of the cursor, thus resizing the window. During this operation, the “resizing with scrolling” and “resizing without scrolling” are executed concurrently according to a change in position of the cursor in the Y direction.
• The same applies to a case in which the user upsizes the window by moving the cursor position like P5→P6→P7→P8. That is, when the cursor position falls within a range from P5 to P6 and from P7 to P8, since the cursor belongs to thesecond region203b, ΔQx=0, and the resizing without scrolling is executed. When the cursor position falls within a range from P6 to P7, since the cursor belongs to thefirst region203a, ΔQx=ΔPx, and the resizing with scrolling is executed.
• That is, while the cursor begins to be dragged from P5 and is continuously dragged to be moved to P8, the position of theleft border203 of thewindow200 moves from C3 to C0 according to the X component of the cursor, thus resizing the window. During this operation, the “resizing with scrolling” and “resizing without scrolling” are executed concurrently according to a change in position of the cursor in the Y direction.
• Note that the case has been exemplified inFIG. 5B wherein theleft border203 is dragged. Also, the same applies to the case wherein the top, bottom, and right borders (borders201,202, and204) are dragged.
• The sequence of the aforementioned window resizing processing will be described below with reference to the flowchart ofFIG. 6.FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the window resizing processing according to the first embodiment. The processing corresponding to the flowchart shown inFIG. 6 is implemented when theCPU101 reads out a corresponding processing program stored in theHD103 onto theRAM102 and executes that program to control respective components.
• Note thatFIG. 6 describes a case wherein the user resizes the window by dragging theleft border203 of thewindow200. However, the embodiment of the invention is not limited to the case wherein theleft border203 is dragged. That is, the same processing as inFIG. 6 can resize the window by dragging thetop border201,bottom border202, andright border204.
• In step S601, theCPU101 acquires operation information (information of a first instruction operation) of a first button of themouse120 ordigital pen130 of theoperation unit109, and information (moving information) of the moving direction and amount of themouse120 ordigital pen130. Note that the first button (first operation unit) corresponds to theleft button121 of themouse120 if themouse120 is used in the default settings of Microsoft Windows®. Also, the first button corresponds to thetip switch131 at the pen tip of thedigital pen130.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S602 based on the operation information of the first button acquired in step S601 whether or not the first button is switched from OFF to ON. If it is determined that the first button is switched to ON (“YES” in step S602), the process advances to step S603. On the other hand, if it is determined that the first button is kept OFF without being switched to ON (“NO” in step S602), the process returns to step S601 to continue the processing.
• In step S603, theCPU101 calculates the position coordinate of the cursor (cursor position coordinate) based on the moving amount information acquired in step S601 to determine on which border of thewindow200 the cursor is located. This determination process can be attained by seeing which of predetermined regions set based on the first and second regions of the borders that configure thewindow200 includes the cursor position coordinate.
• If it is determined that the cursor is located on theleft border203 of the window200 (“left border” in step S603), it can be determined that the user begins to drag theleft border203. In this case, the process advances to step S604. On the other hand, if the cursor is located on one of the remaining borders (on one of thetop border201,bottom border202, and right border204) (“another border” in step S603), it can be determined that the user begins to drag another border. In this case, the process advances to step S605. In step S605, theCPU101 executes window resizing processing by dragging of another border.
• In step S604, theCPU101 determines the cursor position coordinate P(Px, Py) at the beginning of dragging, as shown inFIG. 5A, for the window which begins to be dragged. Also, theCPU101 determines the position C(Cx, Cy) of thecorner208 at the lower end of theleft border203 and the position Q(Qx, Qy) of the arbitrary display contents, as shown inFIG. 5B.
• In step S606, theCPU101 further acquires the operation information of the first button and the moving amount information, and updates the cursor position coordinate P(Px, Py) based on the moving amount information. TheCPU101 then determines in step S607 whether or not the first button is kept ON. If the first button is not kept ON but is switched to OFF (“NO” in step S607), this processing ends. In this case, a so-called “drop” operation is made.
• On the other hand, if the first switch is kept ON (“YES” in step S607), the process advances to step S608. In step S608, theCPU101 sets the X position (Cx) of theleft border203 of thewindow200 to match the X component (Px) of the cursor position coordinate updated in step S606. In this way, the position of theleft border203 follows the movement of the cursor in the X direction.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S609 based on the cursor position coordinate updated in step S606 whether or not the cursor is located on the first region. If it is determined that the cursor is located on the first region (“YES” in step S609), the process advances to step S610. On the other hand, if it is determined that the cursor is located on the second region (“NO” in step S609), the process advances to step S611.
• In step S610, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQx of the position Q of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction to be equal to the moving amount ΔPx of the cursor in the X direction, so as to scroll the display contents upon resizing the window. On the other hand, in step S611, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQx to be zero so as to suppress scrolling of the display contents upon resizing the window.
• In step S612, theCPU101 updates display of the cursor andwindow200 based on the position of theleft border203 determined in step S608 and the moving amount ΔQx determined in step S610 or S611. After that, the process returns to step S606 to continue the processing.
• Note that a loop from step S606 to step S612 represents cursor movement during dragging, that is, that dragging is continued and resizing of the window is in progress during this loop. When the control leaves this loop, this represents that the drop operation is made to settle the window size.
• As described above, according to this embodiment, since each border of the window is divided into two different regions, and the change method of the display contents within the window can be controlled based on the selected region. Since the region can be selected in real time during resizing of the window, the position of the display contents within the window can be controlled simultaneously with resizing. In this way, a desired display result can be obtained by a series of operations, thus improving the work efficiency.
Second Embodiment
• The second embodiment of the invention will be described hereinafter. This embodiment will explain an embodiment that extends the first control technique.
• Upon displaying a window on adisplay unit104, the following three display states are normally available:
• 1. a display state in which both the height and width of the window are maximized to fit a whole display screen (so-called full screen display);
• 2. a display state in which only one icon or title is displayed in a small size (so-called minimum display); and
• 3. a display state in which the window occupies only a part of the display screen.
• The display states1 and3 will be compared. In case of thedisplay state1, since the window itself is fixed, there is no trouble upon handling the window. However, in order to refer to another window, a switching operation for canceling the full screen display state is required.
• On the other hand, in case of thedisplay state3, there is a merit of allowing the user to refer to a plurality of windows, but it is troublesome since the sizes and locations of the respective windows need to be determined and organized. Especially, when a relatively large window completely covers a relatively small window, the user needs to move the upper window to an appropriate location to access the lower window, resulting in inconvenience.
• In this embodiment, in order to allow use of a window of a type that considers the merits of both the display states, window display of the first embodiment is applied to so-called “full screen display”.
• As described above, in “full screen display”, a window is maximized in the X and Y directions of the display screen of thedisplay unit104, and is fixed in size. The window cannot be resized unless the full screen display state is canceled.
• By contrast, in the full screen display according to this embodiment, a window is maximized in only one of the X and Y directions within the display screen, and is fixed in size in that direction. In the remaining direction, one border is fixed to the end of the display screen, and only the other border is movable by dragging. By operating this border that can be dragged, the window can be resized in one direction.
• FIGS. 7A to 7C show examples of full screen display according to this embodiment. InFIGS. 7A to 7C,reference numeral700 denotes a whole display screen of thedisplay unit104. Since the window configuration is the same as that inFIG. 2 of the first embodiment, corresponding reference numerals will be used. Aleft border203 of awindow200 includesfirst region203aandsecond regions203b. The user can drag the first andsecond regions203aand203busing acursor701. The directions of thewhole display screen700 andwindow200 are determined based on an X-Y coordinatesystem502.
• FIG. 7A shows a state in which the size of thewindow200 matches that of thewhole display screen700. That is,FIG. 7A corresponds to the full screen display state.
• FIG. 7B shows a state in which thewindow200 is resized when the user locates thecursor701 on thesecond region203band drags it in the X direction. By dragging in the X direction using thesecond region203b, the size of thewindow200 changes in only the X direction. At this time, aright border204 opposite to the dragged leftborder203 is fixed to the end of the display area, and only theleft border203 can be dragged. With this movement, the window is resized in one direction. Note that thewindow200 is fixed in a maximum size in the Y direction perpendicular to the dragging direction. Note that in case ofFIG. 7B, since thesecond region203bis used, resizing without scrolling described in the first embodiment is executed.
• FIG. 7C shows a state in which the window is resized when the user locates thecursor701 on thefirst region203aand drags it in the X direction. By dragging in the X direction using thefirst region203a, the size of thewindow200 changes in only the X direction. At this time as well, theright border204 opposite to the dragged leftborder203 is fixed to the end of the display area, and only theleft border203 can be dragged. With this movement, thewindow200 is resized in one direction. Note that thewindow200 is fixed in a maximum size in the Y direction perpendicular to the dragging direction. Note that resizing with scrolling described in the first embodiment is executed since thefirst region203ais used at this time.
• InFIGS. 7A to 7C, theleft border203 is used as a border having a function of resizing the window. However, any of the remaining three borders which configure thewindow200 may be used as a border having a function of resizing the window. For example,FIGS. 8A to 8C show a case using abottom border202. That is,FIG. 8A shows an example of a state in which the size of thewindow200 according to this embodiment matches that of thewhole display screen700.FIG. 8B shows an example of a state in which thewindow200 is resized when the user locates thecursor701 on asecond region202band drags it in the Y direction according to this embodiment.FIG. 8C shows an example of a state in which the window is resized when the user locates thecursor701 on afirst region202aand drags it in the Y direction according to this embodiment. One and only difference betweenFIGS. 8A to 8C andFIGS. 7A to 7C is a border used to resize the window.
• Note that in this embodiment, a border that is movable can also be referred to as a “movable border”, a border located at a position opposite to the movable border can also be referred to as a “first fixed border (opposing fixed border)”, and the remaining two borders can also be referred to as a “second fixed border” and “third fixed border”.
• In case ofFIGS. 7A to 7C, theleft border203 corresponds to the movable border, theright border204 corresponds to the first fixed border (opposing fixed border), and atop border201 and thebottom border202 respectively correspond to the second and third fixed borders. In case ofFIGS. 8A to 8C, thebottom border202 corresponds to the movable border, thetop border201 corresponds to the first fixed border (opposing fixed border), and the left andright borders203 and204 respectively correspond to the second and third fixed borders.
• Note that the display position on adisplay area206 of thewindow200 can be controlled in the same manner as in the first embodiment. However, an only difference is that the first and second regions given to all the four borders in the first embodiment are limited to only one border in this embodiment.
• As described above, the window according to this embodiment is maintained in a maximized state in one of the X and Y directions (width and height directions). Therefore, upon reordering a plurality of windows, a one-dimensional positional relationship need only be considered. As a result, compared to reordering of windows in consideration of a two-dimensional positional relationship, an operation can be simplified very much, thus greatly eliminating complexity.
• Since the window can be resized, a window hidden below the upper window can be displayed compared to a case in which a window is completely maximized in both the X and Y directions, thus improving convenience.
• Also, such window can be defined as a fourth window display state in addition to the aforementioned window display states1 to3.
• Note that the point of this embodiment is not limited to that the window can be resized in one direction in the full screen display state, but it lies in that the display position of the display contents within the window can be controlled at the time of the drag operation in combination with the invention according to the first embodiment.
Third Embodiment
• The third embodiment of the invention will be described hereinafter. This embodiment will explain an embodiment which relates to the second control technique.
• The aforementioned first embodiment has proposed the display control method upon resizing the window by dragging one of the borders which configure the window. This method is effective in the case in which the window is often resized by mainly dragging the border. Especially, this method is very effective for the window which is maximized in only one direction, as described in the second embodiment.
• However, a normal window can be resized by dragging one of its corners, as shown inFIGS. 23A to 23D. Whether each user drags the border or corner to resize such normal window depends on favor of the user, the display contents of individual applications, individual work contents, and the like.
• This embodiment proposes a method that can control ON/OFF of scrolling during resizing in real time as in the first embodiment even upon resizing a window by dragging its corner.
• In the display control method according to the aforementioned first embodiment, upon resizing a window by dragging its border, ON/OFF switching of scrolling upon resizing is controlled based on the cursor position in the direction perpendicular to the dragging direction. However, upon resizing a window by dragging its corner, the cursor movement needs to be instructed two-dimensionally. That is, since both the X and Y components of the cursor movement get directly involved in the movement of the corner, one component of the cursor movement cannot be used in switching control between resizing with scrolling and that without scrolling.
• Hence, this embodiment uses ON/OFF of a second button of amouse120 ordigital pen130 of anoperation unit109 in switching control between resizing with scrolling and that without scrolling upon resizing a window. Note that the second button (second operation unit) corresponds to aright button122 of themouse120 in the default settings of Microsoft Windows®. On the other hand, the second button corresponds to aside switch132 on the side surface of thedigital pen130. Also, the second button may be assigned to a specific key such as a control key.
• The operation of the display control method according to this embodiment will be described below with reference toFIGS. 9A to 9C.FIG. 9A shows a state before the beginning of dragging, in which the user locates a cursor P on a corner209 (P0).FIG. 9B shows a state in which the user moves the cursor P from the position P0 to a position P1 of thecorner209. Upon this cursor movement, the user turns on the second button to execute the resizing with scrolling. Furthermore,FIG. 9C shows a state in which the user moves the cursor P from P1 to P2. Upon this cursor movement, the user turns off the second button to execute the resizing without scrolling.
• Note that adotted line901 inFIGS. 9B and 9C indicates the size of awindow200 before resizing. The contents within a dottedline902 indicate the display contents falling outside thewindow200 after resizing.
• It should be noted that the first button is kept ON during dragging irrespective of ON/OFF of the second button.
• FIGS. 9A to 9C are views for explaining the display control method of this embodiment by adopting the configuration of the window corresponding toFIG. 2, but they omit descriptions of first and second regions for the sake of simplicity. Note that the third embodiment can be practiced in combination with the first embodiment, and this embodiment can be applied to the window shown inFIG. 2, which has the first and second regions, just in case.
• This embodiment can assure similar operations on any of fourcorners207 to210 of thewindow200, and the following description will be given taking as an example a case in which the user drags the lowerright corner209.
• InFIGS. 9A to 9C, parameters are defined as follows. Let C(Cx, Cy) be the position of thecorner209 of thewindow200, B(Bx, By) be the position of a point corresponding to that immediately below the point C in an initial state of the display contents within the window, and Q(Qx, Qy) be the position of arbitrary display contents within the window. Note that respective coordinate values are based on an X-Y coordinatesystem502 set with respect to the display screen. Assume that the position C changes like C0, C1, and C2, the position B changes like B0, B1, and B2, and the position Q changes like Q0, Q1, and Q2 in correspondence with the movement of the cursor position from P0 to P1 and to P2.
• At the beginning of dragging, as shown inFIG. 9A, the user locates the cursor position P at the position of the lowerright corner209, and switches the first button from OFF to ON there. At this time, P0=C0=B0.
• During the movement of the cursor position from P0 to P1 after the beginning of dragging inFIG. 9B, thecorner209 of thewindow200 moves to follow the cursor, and the display contents within adisplay area206 also move to follow the cursor (since they are scrolled). At this time, P1=C1=B1. That is, the relationship among P, C, B, and Q can be expressed by:
• 
  ΔC(ΔCx, ΔCy)=ΔP(ΔPx, ΔPy)   (4)
• 
  ΔB(ΔBx, ΔBy)=ΔP(ΔPx, ΔPy)   (5)
• 
  ΔQ(ΔQx, ΔQy)=ΔP(ΔPx, ΔPy)   (6)
• where Δ indicates a change amount.
• Furthermore, during the movement of the cursor position from P1 to P2 inFIG. 9C, thecorner209 of the window similarly moves to follow the cursor P. However, the display contents within thedisplay area206 do not follow the cursor movement since they are not scrolled in this case. At this time, P2=C2≠B2 (=B1). That is, the relationship among P, C, B, and Q can be expressed by:
• 
  ΔC(ΔCx, ΔCy)=ΔP(ΔPx, ΔPy)   (7)
• 
  ΔB(ΔBx, ΔBy)=(0, 0)   (8)
• 
  ΔQ(ΔQx, ΔQy)=(0, 0)   (9)
• The sequence of the aforementioned window resizing processing will be described below with reference to the flowchart ofFIG. 10.FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the window resizing processing according to the third embodiment. The processing corresponding to the flowchart shown inFIG. 10 is implemented when aCPU101 reads out a corresponding processing program stored in anHD103 onto aRAM102 and executes that program to control respective components.
• Note thatFIG. 10 describes a case in which the user resizes the window by dragging the lowerright corner209 of thewindow200. The embodiment of the invention is not limited to the case in which the lowerright corner209 is dragged. That is, the same processing as inFIG. 10 can resize the window by dragging the upperleft corner207, lowerleft corner208, and upperright corner210.
• In step S1001, theCPU101 acquires operation information (information of a first instruction operation) of a first button of themouse120 ordigital pen130 of theoperation unit109, and information (moving information) of the moving direction and amount of themouse120 ordigital pen130. Note that the first button corresponds to theleft button121 of themouse120 if themouse120 is used in the default settings of Microsoft Windows®. Also, the first button corresponds to atip switch131 at the pen tip of thedigital pen130.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S1002 based on the operation information of the first button acquired in step S1001 whether or not the first button is switched from OFF to ON. If it is determined that the first button is switched to ON (“YES” in step S1002), the process advances to step S1003. On the other hand, if it is determined that the first button is kept OFF without being switched to ON (“NO” in step S1002), the process returns to step S1001 to continue the processing.
• In step S1003, theCPU101 calculates the position coordinate of the cursor P (cursor position coordinate) based on the moving amount information acquired in step S1001 to determine on which corner of thewindow200 the cursor is located. This determination process can be attained by seeing which of predetermined regions set based on the corners that configure thewindow200 includes the cursor position coordinate.
• If it is determined that the cursor is located on the lowerright corner209 of the window200 (“lowerright corner209” in step S1003), it can be determined that the user begins to drag the lowerright corner209. In this case, the process advances to step S1004. On the other hand, if the cursor is located on one of the remaining corners (on one of thecorners207,208, and210) (“another ” in step S1003), it can be determined that the user begins to drag another corner. In this case, the process advances to step S1005. In step S1005, theCPU101 executes window resizing processing by dragging of another corner.
• In step S1004, theCPU101 determines the position coordinates P(Px, Py), C(Cx, Cy), B(Bx, By), and Q(Qx, Qy) at the beginning of dragging, as shown inFIG. 9A, for the window which begins to be dragged. Note that the definitions of respective coordinates are the same as those described above.
• In step S1006, theCPU101 further acquires the information of the first instruction operation and moving amount information, and also operation information of a second button (information of a second instruction operation) of themouse120 ordigital pen130 of theoperation unit109. Also, theCPU101 updates the cursor position coordinate P(Px, Py) based on the moving amount information. TheCPU101 then determines in step S1007 whether or not the first button is kept ON. If the first button is not kept ON but is switched to OFF (“NO” in step S1007), this processing ends. In this case, a so-called “drop” operation is made.
• On the other hand, if the first switch is kept ON (“YES” in step S1007), the process advances to step S1008. In step S1008, theCPU101 sets the position C(Cx, Cy) of the lowerright corner209 of thewindow200 to match the cursor position P(Px, Py) updated in step S1006. In this way, the position of the lowerright corner209 follows the cursor movement.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S1009 based on the operation information of the second button acquired in step S1006 whether or not the second button is ON. If it is determined that the second button is ON (“YES” in step S1009), the process advances to step S1010. On the other hand, if it is determined that the second button is OFF (“NO” in step S1009), the process advances to step S1011.
• In step S1010, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQ(ΔQX, ΔQy) of the position Q of the arbitrary display contents to be equal to the moving amount ΔP(ΔPx, ΔPy) of the cursor. In this way, the display contents are scrolled by a size corresponding to the change amounts of thewindow200 in the X and Y directions. On the other hand, in step S1011, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQ to be (0, 0). In this case, the display contents are not scrolled.
• In step S1012, theCPU101 updates display of the cursor andwindow200 based on the position of the lowerright corner209 determined in step S1008 and the moving amount ΔQ determined in step S1010 or S1011. After that, the process returns to step S1006 to continue the processing.
• Note that a loop from step S1006 to step S1012 represents cursor movement during dragging, that is, that dragging is continued and resizing of the window is in progress during this loop. When the control leaves this loop, this represents that the drop operation is made to settle the window size.
• As described above, according to this embodiment, the two different operation buttons of theoperation unit109 are used, and the change method of the display contents within the window can be controlled based on combinations of the button operations. Since the combinations of the button operations can be changed in real time during resizing of the window, the position of the display contents within the window can be controlled simultaneously with resizing. In this way, a desired display result can be obtained by a series of operations, thus improving the work efficiency.
• Note that the case has been explained wherein the window is resized by mainly dragging the corner of the window. However, the display control method according to this embodiment can be applied to a case wherein the window is resized by dragging its border. In this case, ON/OFF of scrolling upon resizing can be controlled by the same operations in case of dragging the corner and that of dragging the border.
• Note that the display control method (first control technique) according to the first embodiment and that (second control technique) according to this embodiment can be compared as follows.
• The first control technique is effective upon attaching importance to resizing by dragging a border, and is especially effective in case of the second embodiment. In consideration of only the case of dragging the border, the first control technique can achieve the desired resizing by a simpler operation than the second control technique.
• By contrast, the second control technique is effective for the case including probability of dragging of both the corner and border, and the case that also attaches importance to dragging of the corner. Using the second control technique, the desired resizing can be achieved by common operation to the case of dragging the corner and that of dragging the border.
Fourth Embodiment
• The fourth embodiment of the invention will be described hereinafter. This embodiment will explain an embodiment that relates to the aforementioned third control technique.
• This embodiment will explain display control of the present invention, which is applied to a case in which a window includes a plurality of sub-windows, and each sub-window is resized by dragging a boundary between the neighboring sub-windows.
• Some applications display using a window defined by a single area, and some other applications display using a window including a plurality of sub-windows.FIG. 11 shows an example of the latter application. In this case, using the plurality of sub-windows, the display efficiency can be improved compared to a case of a single window, and a more comfortable user interface can be provided.
• When a window includes a plurality of sub-windows, it is a common practice to resize each sub-window in the window by dragging a boundary between the neighboring sub-windows. At this time, in the conventional window configuration, ON/OFF of scrolling upon resizing needs to be determined in advance for each sub-window in case of resizing, or a scroll operation needs to be done after resizing.
• For example, the left or top part of the display contents in each sub-window is preferentially displayed in some cases. This is based on the same situation as a window defined by a single area, that is, the idea that the first character of a sentence and the first line of a page are to be preferentially displayed.
• Therefore, in an example of a window divided into left and right sub-windows, upon resizing the sub-windows by dragging a boundary, the display contents of the left sub-window are not scrolled, and those of the right sub-window are scrolled. Likewise, in an example of a window divided into upper and lower sub-windows, the display contents of the upper sub-window are not scrolled, and those of the lower sub-window are scrolled.
• By contrast, this embodiment provides a display control method that allows to concurrently switch ON/OFF of scrolling of sub-windows on two sides of a boundary in real time during resizing upon resizing by dragging the boundary. Hence, in this embodiment, the need for fixing ON/OFF of scrolling in advance can be obviated unlike in the related art.
• Display control processing according to this embodiment will be described below. In this embodiment, in order to control whether or not to scroll the display contents for each sub-window, the following four control modes are available. Note that a case will be examined below wherein a window includes a sub-window on the first side with respect to a boundary, and that on the second side.
• Control mode1. resizing with scrolling of both the sub-windows on the first and second sides
• Control mode2. resizing with scrolling of the sub-window on the first side and that without scrolling of the sub-window on the second side
• Control mode3. resizing without scrolling of the sub-window on the first side and that with scrolling of the sub-window on the second side
• Control mode4. resizing without scrolling of both the sub-windows on the first and second sides
• Note that the relationship between the sub-windows on the first and second sides can be considered as that between neighboring sub-windows on, for example, the left and right sides or the upper and lower sides of the boundary.
• FIG. 12 is a view for explaining this embodiment taking as an example a window which is divided into left and right sub-windows as the first and second sub-windows. Note that the boundary that the user can drag is one boundary per drag operation, and the same display control applies to a window divided into upper and lower sub-windows as in that divided into the left and right sub-windows.
• InFIG. 12, awindow1200 is defined byborders1201,1202,1203, and1204, and has sub-windows1207,1208, and1209 partitioned byboundaries1205 and1206.
• Each of theboundaries1205 and1206 is divided into two regions. InFIG. 12, the upper half region is called a first region, and the lower half region is called a second region. Note that the division method is merely an example, and is not limited to that shown inFIG. 12. For example, the same division method of each border in the first embodiment may be adopted.
• InFIG. 12, the position of a cursor P can be expressed by P(Px, Py) based on an X-Y coordinatesystem502 set on the display screen on which thewindow1200 is displayed. Let LBy be the length of theboundary1205 within thewindow1200, and BL(BLx, BLy) be the position of an intersection between the lower end of theboundary1205 and thelower border1202. Note that BLx corresponds to the position of theboundary1205 in the X direction.
• Note that a condition (condition 1) required to locate the cursor P on the first region is described by:
• 
  LBy/2≦Py−BLy≦LBy
• Likewise, a condition (condition 2) required to locate the cursor P on the second region is described by:
• 
  0<Py−BLy<LBy/2
• Let QL(QLX, QLy) be the position of arbitrary display contents within the sub-window1207 on the left side of theboundary1205, and QR(QRx, QRy) be the position of arbitrary display contents within the sub-window1208 on the right side. Theboundary1205 will be described below. However, the scroll control of the display contents upon resizing the sub-windows with reference to theboundary1206 can be similarly executed.
• Upon execution of resizing without scrolling of the sub-windows in case of a drag operation, the following expression can be made in association with the positions QL and QR:
• 
  ΔQLx=ΔQRx=0   (10)
• where ΔQLx and ΔQRx are differences of QLx and QRx before and after resizing of the sub-windows.
• Likewise, upon execution of resizing with scrolling of the sub-windows, the following expression can be made in association with the positions QL and QR:
• 
  ΔQLx=ΔQRx=ΔPx   (11)
• where ΔQLx and ΔQRx are differences of QLx and QRx before and after resizing of the sub-windows. Likewise, ΔPx is a difference of Px before and after resizing of the sub-windows. Note that these differences correspond to the change amounts of theboundary1205 in the X direction.
• In this embodiment, the four types of resizing control of thecontrol modes1 to4 are switched by combining dragging of the cursor which is located on either the first or second region, and ON/OFF of the second button operation.
• In thecontrol mode1, the cursor located on the first region is dragged, and the second button is ON.
• In thecontrol mode2, the cursor located on the first region is dragged, and the second button is OFF.
• In thecontrol mode3, the cursor located on the second region is dragged, and the second button is ON.
• In thecontrol mode4, the cursor located on the second region is dragged, and the second button is OFF.
• In this way, the display control method according to this embodiment simultaneously uses control based on the position of the cursor in the Y direction used in the first and second embodiments, and control based on the second button of theoperation unit109 used in the third embodiment in cooperation with each other. In case of any of the above four patterns, switching between resizing with scrolling and that without scrolling for each of the sub-windows on the two sides is controlled concurrently during the single, continuous drag operation and cursor movement. The start and continuation of dragging are controlled by ON/OFF of the first button of theoperation unit109 as in the above embodiments.
• FIG. 13 shows an example of a change in display contents when the user moves a boundary on a window divided by the single boundary.
• InFIG. 13,reference numeral1301 denotes a state before beginning of dragging. In this state, a left sub-window displays alphabetical letters “ABD”, and a right sub-window displays three rows of numerals “1” to “9”.
• In this display state of thewindow1301, when the user locates the cursor on the second region, and drags it while the second button is OFF, a display state of awindow1302 is set. At this time, since both the left and right sub-windows are not scrolled, letters “EE” hidden on the left sub-window are newly displayed. On the other hand, on the right sub-window, “1” and “2” are fully hidden and “3” is partially hidden by the movement of the boundary.
• When the user locates the cursor on the first region and drags it while the second button is ON, a display state of awindow1303 is set. Since both the left and right sub-windows are scrolled, the display contents near the boundary remain unchanged, but those near the left and right borders of the window are changed.
• Furthermore, when the user locates the cursor on the second region and drags it while the second button is ON, a display state of awindow1304 is set. At this time, only the right sub-window is scrolled. Hence, alphabetical letters “FG” hidden on the left sub-window are newly displayed near the boundary. On the other hand, on the right sub-window, numerals “1 2 3” near the right border of the window, which were displayed on thewindow1303, are hidden.
• Moreover, when the user locates the cursor on the first region and drags it while the second button is OFF, a display state like awindow1305 is set. At this time, only the left sub-window is scrolled. Hence, on the left sub-window, alphabetical letters “AB” hidden near the left border of the window are displayed. On the other hand, since the right sub-window is not scrolled, numerals “3 4 5 6” are hidden by the boundary.
• The sequence of the aforementioned window resizing processing will be described below with reference to the flowchart ofFIG. 14.FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing an example of the window resizing processing according to the fourth embodiment. The processing corresponding to the flowchart shown inFIG. 14 is implemented when aCPU101 reads out a corresponding processing program stored in anHD103 onto aRAM102 and executes that program to control respective components.
• Note thatFIG. 14 describes a case in which the user resizes the sub-windows by dragging theboundary1205 of thewindow1200. However, the embodiment of the invention is not limited to the case in which theboundary1205 is dragged. That is, the same processing as inFIG. 14 can resize the sub-windows by dragging theboundary1206 or another boundary.
• In step S1401, theCPU101 acquires operation information (information of a first instruction operation) of a first button of amouse120 ordigital pen130 of theoperation unit109, and information (moving information) of the moving direction and amount of themouse120 ordigital pen130. Note that the first button corresponds to aleft button121 of themouse120 if themouse120 is used in the default settings of Microsoft Windows®. Also, the first button corresponds to atip switch131 at the pen tip of thedigital pen130.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S1402 based on the operation information of the first button acquired in step S1401 whether or not the first button is switched from OFF to ON. If it is determined that the first button is switched to ON (“YES” in step S1402), the process advances to step S1403. On the other hand, if it is determined that the first button is kept OFF without being switched to ON (“NO” in step S1402), the process returns to step S1401 to continue the processing.
• In step S1403, theCPU101 calculates the position coordinate of the cursor P (cursor position coordinate) based on the moving amount information acquired in step S1401 to determine on which boundary of thewindow1200 the cursor is located. This determination process can be attained by seeing which predetermined region set based on the boundaries included in thewindow1200 includes the cursor position coordinate.
• If it is determined that the cursor is located on theboundary1205 of the window1200 (“boundary1205” in step S1403), it can be determined that the user begins to drag theboundary1205. In this case, the process advances to step S1404. On the other hand, if the cursor is located on one of the remaining boundaries (on theboundary1206 or the like) (“another” in step S1403), it can be determined that the user begins to drag another boundary. In this case, the process advances to step S1405. In step S1405, theCPU101 executes window resizing processing by dragging of another boundary.
• In step S1404, theCPU101 determines the position coordinates P(Px, Py), BL(BLx, BLy), QL(QLx, QLy), and QR(QRx, QRy) at the beginning of dragging, as shown inFIG. 12, for the window which begins to be dragged. Note that the definitions of respective coordinates are the same as those described above.
• In step S1406, theCPU101 further acquires the information of the first instruction operation and moving amount information, and also operation information of the second button (information of a second instruction operation) of themouse120 ordigital pen130 of theoperation unit109. Also, theCPU101 updates the cursor position coordinate P(Px, Py) based on the moving amount information. TheCPU101 then determines in step S1407 whether or not the first button is kept ON. If the first button is not kept ON but is switched to OFF (“NO” in step S1407), this processing ends. In this case, a so-called “drop” operation is made.
• On the other hand, if the first switch is kept ON (“YES” in step S1407), the process advances to step S1408. In step S1408, theCPU101 sets the X component BLx of the end position BL of theboundary1205 to match the X component Px of the cursor position P updated in step S1406. In this way, the position of theboundary1205 follows the cursor movement.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S1409 based on the coordinate Py of the cursor position in the Y direction obtained in step1406 on which of the first and second regions the cursor P is located and based on the operation information of the second button if the second button is ON.
• If the cursor P is located on the first region, and the second button is ON, the process advances to step S1410. If the cursor P is located on the first region, and the second button is OFF, the process advances to step S1411. Furthermore, if the cursor P is located on the second region, and the second button is ON, the process advances to step S1412. Moreover, if the cursor P is located on the second region, and the second button is OFF, the process advances to step1413.
• In step S1410, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQLx of the position QL of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction on the left sub-window1207 as the first side of theboundary1205 to be equal to the moving amount ΔPx of the cursor P in the X direction. Also, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQRx of the position QR of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction on the right sub-window1208 as the second side of theboundary1205 to be equal to the moving amount ΔPx of the cursor P in the X direction. As a result, the display contents on the sub-windows are scrolled by a size corresponding to the change amount of theboundary1205 in the X direction.
• In step S1411, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQLx of the position QL of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction on the left sub-window1207 as the first side of theboundary1205 to be equal to the moving amount ΔPx of the cursor P in the X direction. Also, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQRx of the position QR of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction on the right sub-window1208 as the second side of theboundary1205 to be zero. In this way, the display contents on the left sub-window1207 are scrolled by a size corresponding to the change amount of theboundary1205 in the X direction. On the other hand, the display contents on the right sub-window1208 are not scrolled.
• In step S1412, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQLx of the position QL of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction on the left sub-window1207 as the first side of theboundary1205 to be zero. Also, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQRx of the position QR of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction on the right sub-window1208 as the second side of theboundary1205 to be equal to the moving amount APx of the cursor P in the X direction. In this way, the display contents on the left sub-window1207 are not scrolled. On the other hand, the display contents on the right sub-window1208 are scrolled by a size corresponding to the change amount of theboundary1205 in the X direction.
• In step S1413, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQLx of the position QL of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction on the left sub-window1207 as the first side of theboundary1205 to be zero. Also, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔQRx of the position QR of the arbitrary display contents in the X direction on the right sub-window1208 as the second side of theboundary1205 to be zero. In this way, the display contents on the sub-windows1207 and1208 are not scrolled.
• In step S1414, theCPU101 updates displays of the cursor andwindow1200. TheCPU101 executes this updating process based on the position BLx of theboundary1205 determined in step S1408, and the moving amounts ΔQLx and ΔQRx determined in any of steps S1410 to S1413. After that, the process returns to step S1406 to continue the processing.
• Note that a loop from step S1406 to step S1412 represents cursor movement during dragging, that is, that dragging is continued and resizing of the window is in progress during this loop. When the control leaves this loop, this represents that the drop operation is made to settle the window size.
• The operation of this embodiment has been described. Note that the same display control method according to this embodiment can be applied to not only the window of the configuration shown inFIGS. 12 and 13 but also to a window divided into upper and lower sub-windows. Furthermore, the method of this embodiment can be applied to a window divided into upper, lower, left and right sub-windows, as shown inFIG. 11.
• The window shown inFIG. 11 is normally configured, so that a boundary which divides the upper and lower sub-windows and that which divides the right and left sub-windows are independently operable. Hence, by executing the same processing as that shown inFIG. 14 in turn to these boundaries, the display control method of this embodiment can be applied.
• In this case, the first and second regions are required to be defined on each boundary. As shown inFIG. 15A, the length of each boundary may be equally divided. Alternatively, as shown inFIG. 15B, a part divided by an intersection of the vertical and horizontal boundaries may be equally divided. In case ofFIG. 15B, the lengths of the first and second regions change sequentially depending on the position of the intersection.
• As described above, according to this embodiment, when a windows is divided into sub-windows by a boundary, the change method of the display contents in the sub-windows can be controlled simultaneously with resizing of the sub-windows. In this way, a desired display result can be obtained by a series of operations, thus improving the work efficiency.
Fifth Embodiment
• This embodiment proposes display control which is executed in association with the scrolling ON/OFF control method upon resizing a window, that is proposed by the present invention.
• Conventionally, display control executed upon resizing includes control for switching ON/OFF of scrolling or a scroll ratio of the display contents according to dragging of a border or corner, control for reducing or enlarging the display contents according to dragging of a border or corner, or the like.
• In general, when the display contents are scrolled upon resizing, the contents on an area opposite to the dragged part are hidden. On the other hand, when the display contents are not scrolled upon resizing, the contents of an area near the dragged part are hidden. (Note that the “area opposite to the dragged part” is an area near a border opposite to the dragged border, or an area near two borders that do not contact the dragged corner. The “area near the dragged part” is an area near the dragged border or an area near two borders that contact the dragged corner.)
• When a part of the window is hidden, the usability may often be impaired. Hence, it is desired to display such part although imperfectly. Hence, in this embodiment, object images such as characters, patterns, photos, and the like, which are located on an area to be normally hidden, are displayed while being jammed into the area to be hidden, so as to allow the user to see them.
• For example, display contents shown inFIG. 16 are assumed. This may be a normal window described in the first embodiment or may be a window which is described in the second embodiment, and is always maximized in one direction (Y direction) within the display screen. InFIG. 16, aleft border1601 is movable by dragging, and awindow1600 can be resized by moving thisborder1601.
• FIGS. 17A and 17B show display examples when the user resizes (reduces) the window by dragging the border in this embodiment.FIG. 17A shows a display example upon resizing with scrolling. With this display control, respective objects move to the right upon resizing, and their movement stops when these objects are brought into contact with the opposing border. In this case, the objects are displayed to overlap each other near the opposing border.
• FIG. 17B shows a display example upon resizing without scrolling. With this display control, since scrolling is not made, all objects are displayed without moving their position at the beginning of dragging of the border. However, when the dragged border moves to the right and is brought into contact with respective objects, these objects begin to move to the right. In this case, the objects are displayed to overlap each other near the dragged border. As the overlapping order, a newly stopped object may be displayed in front of or behind a preexistent object.
• According to such display control, display control as if objects attached to a window were being scooped by a wiper can be implemented, and objects which are normally hidden are displayed although imperfectly, thus improving the usability.
• FIGS. 18A and 18B show display examples upon resizing a window by dragging one corner of the window.
• FIG. 18A shows a display example upon resizing with scrolling, andFIG. 18B shows that upon resizing without scrolling. The respective operations have the same contents described usingFIGS. 17A and 17B for X and Y components.
• In order to allow the user to recognize an object group to be normally hidden more easily, a method shown inFIGS. 19A and 19B is also available.FIG. 19A shows a display example upon resizing with scrolling. In this case, the following display control is executed. That is, respective objects move to the right upon resizing, and their movement stops when respective objects are brought into contact with the opposing border. In addition, when such object is brought into contact with another object whose movement has already stopped previously, the movement of that object stops at that time. As a result, objects are displayed not to overlap each other unlike inFIG. 17B.
• FIG. 19B shows a case upon resizing without scrolling. The following display control is executed. That is, all objects stand still initially. When the dragged border moves to the right and is brought into contact with respective objects, these objects begin to move to the right. In addition, when the objects which have already begun to move are brought into contact with other objects, the other objects begin to move at that time. As a result, objects are displayed not to overlap each other unlike inFIG. 17B.
• Note that upon resizing using the corner, the operations have the same contents for X and Y components.
• The display control processing according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown inFIG. 20.FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of the window resizing processing corresponding to the display examples shown inFIGS. 17A and 17B. The processing corresponding to the flowchart shown inFIG. 20 is implemented when aCPU101 reads out a corresponding processing program stored in anHD103 onto aRAM102 and executes that program to control respective components.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S2001 whether or not the user begins to drag a border. If the user begins to drag the border (“YES” in step S2001), the process advances to step S2002. TheCPU101 determines in step S2002 if scrolling is ON simultaneously with resizing of a window by dragging. If it is determined that scrolling is OFF (“NO” in step S2002), the process advances to step S2003; otherwise (“YES” in step S2002), the process advances to step S2005. Note that ON/OFF of scrolling can be determined according to the processes described in the first to fourth embodiments.
• A case will be examined below wherein a display area of an object O is expressed by O{(O1x, O1y), (O2x, O2y)}. Note that (O1x, O1y) represents the coordinates of the upper left end of the object, and (O2x, O2y) represents the coordinates of the lower right end of the object. Note that the left direction corresponds to a negative direction of the X-axis on an X-Y coordinatesystem502 set in association with the display screen, and the up direction corresponds to a positive direction of the Y-axis. Likewise, the right direction corresponds to a positive direction of the X-axis, and the down direction corresponds to a negative direction of the Y-axis. Let ΔO(ΔO1x, ΔO2x) be a change in display area O in the X-axis direction.
• If it is determined in step S2002 that scrolling is OFF, the display position of the object O is basically not changed. That is, the change amount ΔO=(0, 0) of the coordinates of the display area. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S2002 that scrolling is ON, the display position of the object O is changed according to the drag amount. For example, letting Bx be the coordinate of the dragged border in the X direction, and ΔBx be the moving amount, the change amount ΔOx=(ΔBx, ΔBx) of the display area of the object in the X direction. Note that display of such standard objects is not the gist of this embodiment, and is not described in the flowchart ofFIG. 20. However, in practice, this display control is applied to objects which do not contact the dragged border or opposing border.
• The following explanation will continue while focusing on an object which is in contact with the dragged border or its opposing border.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S2003 whether or not there is an object which is in contact with the dragged border. This determination process can be attained by comparing the coordinates of the display position of the object, and those of the dragged border. At this time, when the X-coordinate Bx of the dragged border falls within a range O1x≦Bx≦O2x, it can be considered that the object is in contact with the dragged border. Note that since the flowchart ofFIG. 20 assumes the case ofFIGS. 17A and 17B, that is, the case of dragging the border in the X direction, only the coordinate in the X-axis direction is considered. In addition, when a border also moves in the Y direction, whether or not an object is in contact with the dragged border can be determined by seeing whether or not the position By of the border in the Y direction falls within the range of that object.
• If it is determined that there is an object that is in contact with the dragged border (“YES” in step S2003), the process advances to step S2004. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no object that is in contact with the dragged border (“NO” in step S2003), the process jumps to step S2007.
• In step S2004, theCPU101 changes the display position of the object which is determined to contact the border according to the moving amount ΔBx of the border. That is, theCPU101 sets the moving amount ΔOx=(0, 0) of the object before contact to be equal to ΔOx=(ΔBx, ΔBx), so as to be matched with the moving amount of the dragged border. As a result, if scrolling is OFF, the display position of the object which is in contact with the dragged border can be moved and displayed together with the dragged border. After that, the process advances to step S2007.
• If scrolling is executed simultaneously with dragging of the border, theCPU101 determines in step S2005 whether or not there is an object that is in contact with the border opposite to the dragged border.
• In this case as well, letting BOx be the X-coordinate of the opposing border, if BOx falls within a range O1x≦BOx≦O2x, it can be considered that the object is in contact with the opposing border. Note that since the flowchart ofFIG. 20 assumes the case ofFIGS. 17A and 17B, that is, the case of dragging the border in the X direction, only the coordinate in the X-axis direction is considered. In addition, when a border also moves in the Y direction, whether or not an object is in contact with the opposing border can be determined by seeing whether or not the position BOy of the opposing border in the Y direction falls within the range of that object.
• If it is determined that there is an object that contacts the opposing border (“YES” in step S2005), the process advances to step S2006. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no object that contacts the opposing border (“NO” in step S2005), the process jumps to step S2007.
• In step S2006, theCPU101 fixes the display position of the object which is determined to contact at the current display position. That is, the object is scrolled before contact to have ΔOx=(ΔBx, ΔBx) in accordance with the change amount by dragging, and its scrolling is stopped to have ΔOx=(0, 0). In this way, even when scrolling is executed as a whole, the display position of the object which is in contact with the opposing border is fixed near the opposing border, so that the object stays within the window display area. After that, the process advances to step S2007.
• In step S2007, theCPU101 updates display of the object which is in contact with the border based on the moving amount of the object determined in step S2004 or S2006. TheCPU101 updates display of other objects according to ON/OFF of scrolling based on the determination result in step S2002.
• TheCPU101 determines in step S2008 whether or not the user ends dragging. If it is determined that the user ends dragging (“YES” in step S2008), this processing ends. On the other hand, if it is determined that the user does not end dragging (“NO” in step S2008), the process returns to step S2002 to continue the processing.
• The processing has been described taking as an example the case ofFIGS. 17A and 17B. By extending the aforementioned processing also in the Y direction, the display control corresponding toFIGS. 18A and 18B can be implemented. As for display associated withFIGS. 19A and 19B, whether or not objects are in contact with each other needs to be further determined. Then, in case of “with scrolling”, upon detection of a contact with the border or object, a change in display position of that object is stopped (i.e., ΔOx=(0, 0)). On the other hand, in case of “without scrolling”, upon detection of a contact with the border or object, a change in display position of that object is started (i.e., ΔOx=(ΔBx, ΔBx)).
• Furthermore, even when a window is divided into sub-windows by a boundary like in the fourth embodiment, the display control of objects within a display area can be implemented based on the presence/absence of a contact with the boundary or border in the same manner as described above.
• As described above, even when the display contents are scrolled simultaneously with dragging, when an object in the display contents is in contact with an element (border or boundary) of the window, scrolling of the contact object can be suppressed. Even when the display contents are not scrolled simultaneously with dragging, when an object in the display contents is in contact with an element (border or boundary) of the window, the contact object can be scrolled.
• On the other hand, even when the display contents are scrolled simultaneously with dragging, when an object in the display contents is in contact with another object whose scrolling has already been suppressed, scrolling of the contact object can also be suppressed. Even when the display contents are not scrolled simultaneously with dragging, when an object in the display contents is in contact with another object which has already been scrolled, the contact object can also be scrolled.
• In this way, display control as if objects attached to a window were being scooped by a wiper can be implemented, and objects which are normally hidden are displayed although imperfectly, thus further improving the usability.
Other Embodiments
• The above-described exemplary embodiments of the present invention can also be achieved by providing a computer-readable storage medium that stores program code of software (computer program) which realizes the operations of the above-described exemplary embodiments, to a system or an apparatus. Further, the above-described exemplary embodiments can be achieved by program code (computer program) stored in a storage medium read and executed by a computer (CPU or micro-processing unit (MPU)) of a system or an apparatus.
• The computer program realizes each step included in the flowcharts of the above-mentioned exemplary embodiments. Namely, the computer program is a program that corresponds to each processing unit of each step included in the flowcharts for causing a computer to function. In this case, the computer program itself read from a computer-readable storage medium realizes the operations of the above-described exemplary embodiments, and the storage medium storing the computer program constitutes the present invention.
• Further, the storage medium which provides the computer program can be, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic storage medium such as a magnetic tape, an optical/magneto-optical storage medium such as a magneto-optical disk (MO), a compact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a CD read-only memory (CD-ROM), a CD recordable (CD-R), a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, a ROM and so on.
• Further, an OS or the like working on a computer can also perform a part or the whole of processes according to instructions of the computer program and realize functions of the above-described exemplary embodiments.
• In the above-described exemplary embodiments, the CPU jointly executes each step in the flowchart with a memory, hard disk, a display device and so on. However, the present invention is not limited to the above configuration, and a dedicated electronic circuit can perform a part or the whole of processes in each step described in each flowchart in place of the CPU.
• While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
• This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-186326, filed Jul. 17, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Claims (16)

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a display unit configured to display a window;

an accepting unit configured to accept a resize instruction of the displayed window together with a scroll instruction indicating whether or not to scroll display contents within the window; and

a control unit configured to control a size of the window and a scrolling of the display contents within the window based on contents of the resize instruction and the scroll instruction,

wherein when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are to be scrolled, said control unit changes the window to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and scrolls the display contents according to a change amount of the window, and

when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are not to be scrolled, said control unit changes the window to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and suppresses a scrolling of the display contents.

2. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction as an instruction to further resize the window during resizing of that window.

3. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the window is configured to include a border having a first region and a second region,

when said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction using the first region, said accepting unit accepts the scroll instruction indicating that the display contents are to be scrolled, and

when said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction using the second region, said accepting unit accepts the scroll instruction indicating that the display contents are not to be scrolled.

4. The apparatus according toclaim 3, wherein when only one border of four borders configuring the window has the first region and the second region,

said accepting unit accepts only a resize instruction of the window in a direction perpendicular to the one border, and

said control unit controls the size of the window based on a display position of the one border on said display unit.

5. The apparatus according toclaim 1 further comprising:

a first operation unit configured to accept a first instruction operation from a user; and

a second operation unit configured to accept a second instruction operation from the user,

wherein when said second operation unit accepts the second operation instruction after said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction using a part of the window based on the first instruction operation, said accepting unit accepts the scroll instruction indicating that the display contents are to be scrolled, and

when said second operation unit does not accept the second operation instruction after said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction using a part of the window based on the first instruction operation, said accepting unit accepts the scroll instruction indicating that the display contents are not to be scrolled.

6. The apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein the part of the window is a border or a corner of the window.

7. The apparatus according toclaim 1 further comprising:

a first operation unit configured to accept a first instruction operation from a user; and

a second operation unit configured to accept a second instruction operation from the user,

wherein the window includes a plurality of sub-windows divided by a boundary, and the boundary is configured to have a first region and a second region,

when said second operation unit accepts the second operation instruction after said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction using the first region based on the first instruction operation, said accepting unit accepts a scroll instruction indicating that display contents within the sub-window on a first side of the boundary and display contents within the sub-window on a second side of the boundary are to be scrolled,

when said second operation unit does not accept the second operation instruction after said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction using the first region based on the first instruction operation, said accepting unit accepts a scroll instruction indicating that display contents within the sub-window on the first side are to be scrolled, and display contents within the sub-window on the second side are not to be scrolled,

when said second operation unit accepts the second operation instruction after said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction using the second region based on the first instruction operation, said accepting unit accepts a scroll instruction indicating that display contents within the sub-window on the first side are not to be scrolled, and display contents within the sub-window on the second side are to be scrolled, and

when said second operation unit does not accept the second operation instruction after said accepting unit accepts the resize instruction using the second region based on the first instruction operation, said accepting unit accepts a scroll instruction indicating that display contents within the sub-window on the first side and display contents within the sub-window on the second side are not to be scrolled.

8. The apparatus according toclaim 7, wherein the first side and the second side are the left side and the right side or the upper side and the lower side with respect to the boundary.

9. The apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein said first operation unit is the left button of a mouse connected to said information processing apparatus, and said second operation unit is the right button of the mouse.

10. The apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein said first operation unit is a tip switch of a digital pen connected to said information processing apparatus, and said second operation unit is a side switch of the digital pen.

11. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the display contents include an object,

when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are to be scrolled, and when the object is in contact with a border or a boundary of the window, said control unit suppresses the scrolling of the object which is in contact, and

when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are not to be scrolled, and when the object is in contact with a border or a boundary of the window, said control unit scrolls the object which is in contact.

12. The apparatus according toclaim 11, wherein when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are to be scrolled, and when the object is in contact with another scroll-suppressed object, said control unit also suppresses the scrolling of the object which is in contact, and

when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are not to be scrolled, and when the object is in contact with another object which has already been scrolled, said control unit also scrolls the object which is in contact.

13. A method of controlling an information processing apparatus comprising:

displaying a window on a display unit;

accepting a resize instruction of the displayed window together with a scroll instruction indicating whether or not to scroll display contents within the window; and

controlling a size of the window and a scrolling of the display contents within the window based on contents of the resize instruction and the scroll instruction, p1 wherein when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are to be scrolled, the window is changed to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and the display contents are scrolled according to a change amount of the window, and

when the scroll instruction indicates that the display contents are not to be scrolled, the window is changed to a size indicated by the resize instruction, and scrolling of the display contents is suppressed.

14. The method according toclaim 13, wherein the resize instruction is accepted as an instruction to further resize the window during resizing of the displayed window.

15. The method according toclaim 13, wherein the information processing apparatus further comprises first operation unit configured to accept a first instruction operation from a user, and second operation unit configured to accept a second instruction operation from the user,

the window includes a plurality of sub-windows divided by a boundary, and the boundary is configured to have a first region and a second region,

when the second operation instruction is accepted via the second operation unit after the resize instruction using the first region based on the first instruction operation is accepted, a scroll instruction indicating that display contents within the sub-window on a first side of the boundary and display contents within the sub-window on a second side of the boundary are to be scrolled is accepted,

when the second operation instruction is not accepted via the second operation unit after the resize instruction using the first region based on the first instruction operation is accepted, a scroll instruction indicating that display contents within the sub-window on the first side are to be scrolled and display contents within the sub-window on the second side are not to be scrolled is accepted,

when the second operation instruction is accepted via the second operation unit after the resize instruction using the second region based on the first instruction operation is accepted, a scroll instruction indicating that display contents within the sub-window on the first side are not to be scrolled and display contents within the sub-window on the second side are to be scrolled is accepted, and

when the second operation instruction is not accepted via the second operation unit after the resize instruction using the second region based on the first instruction operation is accepted, a scroll instruction indicating that display contents within the sub-window on the first side and display contents within the sub-window on the second side are not to be scrolled is accepted.

16. A computer program stored in a computer readable medium for making a computer function as the information processing apparatus according toclaim 1.

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